Running Total Collective Artist Debt

$55,212,069.84

Cela Luz

clay series | photograph of urban intervention using clay on the streets | 2016

How did you get into debt?

After I finished graduate school I maxed out my credit cards. It was the time when the market crashed so it was harder to get a job. I only have part-time jobs and try to juggle between my living expenses, my art-practice and my debt.

clay series | photograph of urban intervention using clay on the streets | 2016

https://vimeo.com/126161817

https://vimeo.com/140744901

How does your economic reality effect your art?

I have help from my family, but it is strict. Sometime I have an idea and want to execute it but I can't, because I don't have enough money for it. And because I feel bad to ask for more money to my father.
This affects my art because I am not the kind of artist that knows how to explore cheap kinds of materials. I like to paint with oil painting for example, and it is the most expensive kind of paint. That makes me paint over a lot of old paintings, just because I dont have enough money to buy new canvas.

Refugees } oil painting and charcoal on paper | 2015

Would your work look different if you weren't in debt?:

Definitively, I will have more resources to make the pieces. Sometimes you need to scale down the works or look for alternatives to bring your ideas into life